After the cover image of Annette Bening, Diane Kruger, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, Kate Winslet, and Chastain was published, many on Twitter expressed a desire for the Molly's Game star, an outspoken ally to women and people of color, to explain her participation. An excellent thread on the topic came from WNYC reporter Rebecca Carroll, who asked Chastain how as "as an outspoken voice for equality" she could pose for the image and "not feel absolutely mortified by the blatant exclusion."

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Chastain — the only cover star thus far to speak out on the matter — responded by denouncing the cover, calling it "a sad look" to not include women of color and praising Salma Hayek's work in Beatriz at Dinner as her favorite leading role by a woman of color from the past year. Her next tweet, however, addressed a major casting problem with films: Chastain was unable to think of five WOC who had starring roles in movies in 2017.

Its a sad look that there's no WOC in this pic of us promoting our female lead films. The industry needs to become more inclusive in its storytelling. What were your favorite WOC lead films this year? I LOVED @salmahayek in #BeatriceAtDinnerhttps://t.co/tzoijwy88q

Chastain makes a good point, that echoes something Carroll said in her original series of tweets to Chastain: Hollywood is not doing enough to put WOC into leading roles. And, as some mentioned in Chastain's comments, she could do more both as a producer to put WOC in those lead roles and as an actress by objecting when opportunities like this come up in which no WOC are included.

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Obviously structural change takes time but the collective power in this image -- the platform, the agency, the privilege -- could at least recognize the way in which the optics here double down resolutely on willful exclusion of people of color.

Seeing WOC on screen in movies at all levels, from prestige to blockbuster to streaming, shouldn't be an anomaly. Telling the stories of POC and amplifying needs to be a bigger priority, particularly for individuals who have the power to make it a reality. As Carroll puts it best, "I cannot help but to think of the young black girls and girls of color who see an image like this whether aspiring actresses or not and instantaneously getting the message that there is no place for them in mainstream, valued America."

Correction: This article has been edited and updated to include attribution to Rebecca Carroll's original Twitter thread.